New Jersey police seize homemade bombs stuffed with gunpowder and ready to explode from 16-year-old high school student

Police seized a handful of homemade explosive devices from the home of a 16-year-old student in Edison, New Jersey, following a recent string of bomb threats made at the local high school, authorities said on Monday night.

The officers found fuses attached to ‘less than six’ carbon dioxide cartridges packed with gunpowder and ready to detonate when they searched the Edison High School student’s home, township Police Chief Thomas Bryan told reporters.

The officers also seized fireworks and several disassembled shotgun shells, which are normally packed with pellets or buckshot, which can be used as shrapnel, Bryan said.

More homemade bombs: Police seized a handful of homemade explosive devices from the home of a 16-year-old student in Edison, New Jersey, following a recent string of bomb threats made at the local high school

The unidentified 16-year-old, whose name was withheld due to his age, has been charged with possession of homemade bomb devices.

The teenage suspect was interviewed by police after his arrest and later released into a relative’s custody.

Edison police said they do not believe the teen had a specific plan to detonate the explosive devices.

‘There is no immediate threat that was able to be determined,’ Sergeant Robert Dudash, a township police spokesman, told the Star-Ledger.

Bryan said that if the weapons had exploded, however, they could have killed someone.

The police chief likened the homemade explosive devices to the shrapnel-loaded pressure cooker bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks earlier this month, according to the Star-Ledger.

‘Anything that’s stuffed with gunpowder and shrapnel and BBs and has that much force can certainly do a lot of damage,’ Bryan said. ‘Think about what happened in Boston. They were pressure cookers and how big are they?’

Bomb response: Police reportedly learned of the explosives that the teenager was hiding in his home after a local resident responded to a reward flier seeking information about bomb threats made against the high school earlier this month

Police reportedly learned of the explosives that the teenager was hiding in his home after a local resident responded to a reward flier seeking information about bomb threats made against the high school earlier this month, Bryan said.

The bomb threats caused evacuations at Edison High School on April 15, 16 and 17.